POLITICAL SCIENCE 222: Global Political Economy (GPE) Lecture Notes
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Course
Political Science 222 (POLSCI222)
Institution
Stellenbosch University (SUN)
Book
Global Political Economy
Detailed notes from voice narrations for lectures 1 through 13. Key dates and terms are included that are not always included in the textbook. Extremely helpful in the final exam and for scoring high marks in the weekly online quizzes for the module.
L1: Introduction to GPE as a Discipline
Introduction
• International Political Economy (IPE) emerged as a discipline in the mid-1970s
• Global Political Economy (GPE) 1980s (obsession with globalisation)
• Distinct subfield of International Relations
Why?
• Arab Oil Embargo
• 'Nixon Shock' (1971)
• Interdependence became a growing concern
• Wide variety of actors (esp. non-state actors ) became relevant
• Efforts to include ‘economics’ alongside traditional security concerns of i.r.
Studying GPE
• Just politics or just economics insufficient
• GPE demands an interdisciplinary approach
• Allows for greater complexity – therefore greater explanatory power?
“The whole point of studying IPE rather than IR is to extend more widely the conventional limits of the
study of politics…” - Susan Strange
Wealth vs. Power
• IR / Politics: Power as the ability to produce intended effects (tends to ignore wealth as power)
• Economics: scarcity, distribution, consumption (tends to ignore power as determining economic
decisions)
• GPE: Wealth as power (disparities in wealth between nations)
• Political structures ⟺ economic interactions
• “[IPE is] the set of international and global problems that cannot usefully be understood or analysed
as just international politics or just international economics.” – Michael Veseth
• “Since most economic questions are notoriously political, and almost all political questions involve
some economic considerations, one cannot describe issues any more as ‘purely economic’ or as
‘purely political’. Both are both.” – Susan Strange
• The State: IPE challenges IR notions of states and power by suggesting that states can lose power
to, for example, market actors
• The Market: efficiency vs. Power
• Society: what role does society and its values and beliefs play?
What do we study?
• Impact of transnational corporations (production, global division of labour, gender, the environment)
• International finance (Global Financial Crisis 2007-2009)
• International trade (trade wars between the U.S. and China)
• Development & North-South relations
• Interdependence & globalisation?? (Brexit, election of Donald Trump, xenophobic violence in SA)
• COVID-19
• What is GPE?
• What methods are used to study GPE? How do they differ from one another?
• How has globalisation impacted on research priorities in GPE?
• What are the assumptions of O'Brien and Williams' (2016) approach to GPE?
, L2: Introduction to Theory and Economic Nationalism
(Mercantilism)
Theory (Glasses):
• The same subject can be examined in different
disciplines from a variety of perspectives
• Theories explain, describe and predict (glasses with different lenses)
• Different theories have different basic assumptions about
a. the units of analysis
b. the nature of the system
c. The motivations of the actors (they are thus incompatible)
• We choose theories for their specific utility –
“Theory is always for someone and some
purpose.” – Robert Cox
• Social location of observer is important
Main Theories
1. Economic nationalism / mercantilism
o role of the state and the importance of power in shaping outcomes in i.p.e.
2. Liberalism
o emphasis on the individual & non state actors
o Why cooperation → peace
o importance of economy, non-interference in market
3. Constructivism
o values, norms, ideas, language
4. Critical theories
o question the way the world is organised
o challenge structures of power
o Propose how the world could and should change to make it more equitable
A. Marxism (class)
B. Feminism (gender)
C. Ecologism / Green Theory (environment)
D. Postcolonialism (legacy of imperialism)
E. Poststructuralism (language & culture)
Economic Nationalism
• Tracks Realism from IR Theory (state as main unit of analysis – 1648)
o European nations signed Peace of Westphalia signed (1648)- treaty
o Established the territorial nation state
o Ended the 30 Year War
o State as an actor emerged 1648
3 S's:
1. Statism
o State is the main unit of analysis
2. Self-help
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